Burton Township (part 6 of 7)

At day dawn, March 19th, a strange thing happened to young Ford, exceptional in its features, and taken altogether, it has ranked with the wonderful. In the early gray of the morning light, he left the tent, its sleepers undisturbed, and passed along a little brook running down the valley. In the shadow of its bank he was discovered by Doctor Canfield, who mistook him for an Indian or an animal, without even a suspicion that any one was so early away from the tent, and without hail, he promptly leveled a Colt's revolver and fired. The supposed native fell. On reaching him, Canfield was horrified beyond measure to discover in the victim, his friend. This was in no way diminished, when he found that his bullet had entered a little behind the ear, traversed the base of the head, passing directly through, making an exit at the orifice of the right eye, which it carried away with it. The distracted doctor bore his friend back to camp, and washed his wound. Ford seems to have been no more than stunned. " You will not live more than half an hour," was Canfield's declaration to him. "I shall come out all right," was the resolute response, and he did. He was placed on horseback, and rode two and one-half miles to a Spanish ranch, where he lay the rest of the day, on the earthen floor, with a folded overcoat for a pillow. The next day, Sunday, he rode with the drove 5 miles, and camped. On Monday he rode 15 miles, and slept that night with his saddle for a pillow; and thus he went on with the party, by day and night, until Thursday, when he left the drove, and rode 24 miles, accompanied by Thaddeus Mills, to San Luis Obispo, where he took a steamer for San Francisco. In two weeks the wound was healed, with no other treatment than frequent washing and application of wet cloths. It is but just to say, that Mr. Ford attached no blame to Dr. Canfield (since dead), for the accident, which came so near taking his life, and, as before, they were ever afterwards firm friends.

For the twenty-six intervening years Mr. Ford has experienced no inconvenience from this injury, other than the loss of his eye and impaired power of his left ear. The case is hardly paralleled by that mentioned in the sketch of his brother, Captain E. A. Ford, who was shot through the lung in the battle of Stone River.

Mr. Ford returned to Burton, and in 1855 he opened the first exclusively hardware store in Geauga county, which business he conducted until 1857, when he sold out. The following year he became a trustee of the Eclectic Institute at Hiram, now a college, which position he has continued to occupy until the present time, 22 years. Soon after becoming a trustee, he was appointed financial agent of the Institute, then depressed and in debt, and went among the churches and friends of education to solicit aid. In this service he spent much time for the next ten years, going from church to church, from neighborhood to neighborhood, and often from house to house, in the pulpit, on the platform, in the school-house, by the fireside, in the field and by the wayside, telling the story of the infant school, its importance and necessity, opening out the general grand subject of education, its measureless importance to individuals, and its crowning necessity to the American people. Such labors, in such fields, are, in their tendencies and far-reaching results, beyond estimate. By his effort the debts of the Institute were paid. He was instrumental in securing to the Eclectic, the first course of Biblical lectures delivered before the class of ministers in the summer of 1 866, in charge of the Rev. Isaac Errett, and labored efficiently to establish the Christian Standard, now the largest paper of the Disciples, which is edited by Mr. Errett, at Cincinnati. In 1867 the Institute was re-organized into a college. His successful labors in behalf of education had secured sub-

A fearless advocate of his convictions, he always held to them against friend or foe. At one time it was designed to accept the resignation of President Shepherd, and substitute a younger man. In Ford's judgment, this was neither right nor expedient. His strongest friends in the board meeting sustained the motion for a change. In the debate he stood alone, and in closing the argument, so defended the right, and portrayed the dangers threatening the college, that the vote was close, although the motion was sustained.

So much of interest centered in the "old Eclectic," when the board had decided to make it a college, that friends from various sections gathered at a meeting, held in the chapel hall. A resolution ratifying the change was to be passed. So vividly portrayed in his correspondence to the Herald , was the closing scene of that meeting, and the historic characters in it, that it is inserted here :

"Dr. Robinson, the author of the resolution, with paper in his hand stands up. The decisive moment approaches, stillness is over the convention, save the breath of the wind through the open windows. In gravely impressive tones, the Doctor asks that only those shall vote for this resolution who are willing to, and in voting, do pledge their influence and their means to its support, and those who are unable to give money, shall pledge their hearts and prayers to its success. The vote is taken, and every member of the convention rises unanimously in its favor. Pledged without reservation, stand all that convention, and the work is begun. In the joy of the moment, a most beautiful and touching speedi came from the great heart of Gen. Garfield. Tears stole silently on the cheek as he carried us back in the memories of the past. Last night Dr. R. had told of a sunset on Lake Erie. To-day, the General stood in the vestibule of the past. Before him was the great ocean of busy life. Wrecks here - wrecks yonder - ships stranded - ships sailing gloriously. Behind was the old shore, where his young heart-hopes waited, gaining the vigor of early manhood. The Eclectic was there. Was it receding now, and he drifting away from the old landmarks? Were the ties that bound him there, to be broken? Might he not cast anchor and rest near that old shore, ere he turned to the dim vastness of the great future, and sailed to the eternal beyond? It was well to express the wish that the balance of his friend's, the Doctor's, life-work might be such, and so we say of his own, that when the sunset came, it should be like the scene on Erie.

The great sun hung just above the waters in the blue of the west, the clouds floating purple and scarlet and gold, rolled high heavenward, and the scimitar flashing blades of light cut across the waves of water, and circled around a ship, - with canvass full-spread, sailing directly into sunset. Every* mast was a towering spire of solid heat; every spar a beam of light; all the sails sheets of flame blazing on the sky ; the decks a burnished plane of glittering fire, and the whole a magnificent palace ship, radiant in the splendid glories of the hour, went sailing from before the vision straight into the sun, and all, in the same sight, went down beyond the waters into the evening. A grandeur like this could only come to close man's voyage, after a life of noblest effort. The work that day begun, will live to bless the world, when we have all passed beyond the sunset of life's evening."

In these ten years of active and important college work, is covered the war period, a tale so olten told in the lives of our patriotic citizens. Mr. Ford shared to the full, the fervor of feeling and firmness of determination, which hurled the armed north upon armed slavery. He was early appointed a lieutenant, and assigned to recruiting, did volunteer duty in Kentucky, and was at Green river bridge in 1862. But the loss of his eye and impartial hearing so incapacitated him for active duty, that he did not long continue in the service.

On the expedition from Columbus and Cincinnati to Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, on the steamer Tycoon, May 9th, 1862, after wounded soldiers in charge of Doctor S. M. Smith, medical director, Mr. Ford acted as secretary, and received the special commendation of his chief and honorable mention by Gov. Tod, in his report to the legislature. During the years 1861-2 and part of 1863, he was a legislative correspondent of the Cleveland Herald . On the battlefield of Shiloh, near the famous peach orchard, where occurred the terrific closing struggle of the 2d days' fight, one morning, in the spring of 1862, he rode with Gen. Garfield towards the Washington battery captured from the rebels in the edge of the wood. The whole field was one continuous record of wreck and carnage, and the value of human life seemed small in the presence of this awful desolation. The young general might go down in the next onset, as quickly as had gone the thousands in that field. His life seemed worth too much. There were too great possibilities before him. The nation had need of such heart and such brain for counsels, in the fearful perils through which she was passing, more than she had need of his sword in the battle. So impressed was Ford with this thought, that he broke a moment's silence of the ride with words of this purport. "General, you ought to leave this army life. We have need of you in congress; your district will send you." Garfield answered, "No, I must go through the war." Ford returned home, went down the Mahoning valley, counselled with friends, wrote of the trip in a regular letter to the Herald , mentioned James A. Garfield for congress, and the publication of this in the Herald , is believed to have been the first press notice of his name, in that connection. He was that gentleman's private secretary during the first session of his remarkable congressional career. From that time to the day he received the unanimous nomination of the Republican members of the Ohio legislature, for the United States senate, in his presence, and to which he effectively contributed, Mr. Ford has been one of his steadiest, most zealous and able friends and supporters.

In 1870 he entered the service of the Climax Mower and Reaper company, of Corry, Pennsylvania, and in 1872, became its general manager. The continued strain on his energies, in the interests of this great company, brought him to a sick bed. Recovering, he labored on, until the extensive works, with all their varied interests and departments, were sold. He removed to New Castle, Pa., in 1873, and became interested in the oil business with Phillips Brothers.

In 1875, returned, permanently it is hoped, to his native Burton. Here he purchased the old Hickox place, at the southeast corner of the public square, fronting on the Parkman road, which he entirely renovated, surrounded it with a neat fence, planted trees, shrubs, and vines, laid out and improved the grounds, and, from one of the dreariest places in all of that region, he changed it to one of the most attractive.

In 1876, he was chairman of the county Republican executive committee, and served well the party interests. The past year, he has devoted much of his time to the pioneer history of the county. He was one of the earliest and most earnest promoters of the historical society, and is an enthusiast in everything pertaining to the pioneers. At all of the gatherings and meetings, he has been one of the foremost of the devoted contributors and efficient workers. When the Messrs. Williams began their canvass for their history of the county, he early became satisfied that the scope of their proposed plan, as well as the hasty and ineffective gathering of material, and working it up, precluded their accomplishing what, in his view, ought to be accomplished by a history. He therefore determined to stand aloof from that enterprise, and, in the meantime, devote his attention to a work different in some features, and, as is hoped, more minute, more extensive, and more accurate in its history proper. To the writer of much of that work, however, he contributed such local knoweledge as he could then command, taking for that purpose, considerable labor upon himself It is impossible to make a work of this character perfect, no matter by what hand it is performed, and how exhaustive the research. Little of it can be found in books or papers of any sort. A few accurate dates, a few entries in private books, a few paragraphs in newspapers, some inscriptions on tombstones, some old letters, and for the rest, the fading memory of the few who remain, who were too young, when the things happened, to observe and know certainly, and are too old to remember and narrate, when they tell their stories, and then - only tradition and hearsay, usually contradictory. These beginnings of history are always set down imperfectly and inaccurately. All these difficulties Mr. Ford has met, and, in a large measure overcome in his history of Burton.

The whole work contains matter equaling 1,000 pages of ordinary history size, and all furnished at the astonishingly low price of $1.50. For this, it is said, the people of the county are largely indebted to Mr. Ford's exertions. Many will grumble even at this cost, as many will be found to complain of the work, and many will be thankful that so much of fact has been preserved.

He is now forty-seven years old, with the years of his best work before him. In person slightly above medium heighth, slenderly and wirily built, square in the shoulders, of good carriage, and easy, graceful manners; dark brown-eyed, and black-haired, as are most of the Fords. I think the habitual pose of the head is now due to the loss of his eye, and the years it must have cost him to accustom himself to the loss, and seem unconscious of it. Few men are able to so overcome such a loss, as to wear the same manners as were theirs before. In ability he is above the good average, cultured more, perhaps, by a wide, varied, and constant intercourse with men, than with the reading of many books. He is an easy, graceful, forcible public speaker. Has evidently had much practice, and writes well. He understands men well; knows how to deal with them. In the world of men he has contented himself with laboring for others, in which he has a capacity of making himself very useful. This is often a thankless task. The good goes to another. The evil of men's speech, if such there is, falls to the share of the faithful friend. Mr. Ford certainly has contributed much to advance others. They are men who are not built up by indirect means, and thus far his support has reflected nothing but honorable credit to himself, and in its results, widely useful.

In the Murphy movement he early took high ground for temperance, and has stood firm in its advocacy and practice. - In this, as in all else he undertakes, Mr. Ford shows a persistant determination that staggers at no obstacle in the way of success. This trait in itself so valuable, it is thought with him, in some instances, to be unduly developed, at all events, so much so, as to bring him in conflict with those more time serving and politic. In justice to him it should be said, however sharply he may antagonize, no one is more ready to meet pleasantly and treat kindly his bitterest opponent, or to acknowledge an error when convinced. With determined perseverance, he accomplishes by hard work, what others would lack courage to undertake, comprehending quickly, m general and in detail, whatever his mind lays hold upon to plan, and his power to execute is equal to any need.

The same purpose and will, which has directed him so well in the service of others, it would seem, should have held him steadily to some one aim or purpose, giving larger reputation for solidity, and greater personal success. With him changes have occurred, yet this summing up shows more of success in his life, than with many who "jog along the even tenor of their way."

At Lubec, Maine, June 7, 1868, Mr. Ford was united in marriage with Mary E. Staples, only daughter of Samuel Staples, esq., a ship owner and merchant of that sea-coast town. From the rocky shores of the wave-beaten State, and the fog clouds of its bays, she came to the fertile lands of the west, when the clearing work of the pioneers was done. Here she has earnestly and faithfully supported and aided her husband in his arduous labor of placing their names and deeds upon the page of history. A member of the Disciple church, she is a lady of cultivative, genial manners, decided convictions, frankly expressed - sincere and abiding friendship, and makes their happy home the center of a pleasant circle. They have three children - Samuel E., Lida L., and Elias E. Here, with the family, he will certainly gather and enjoy the fruits of a varied, active early life and experience.

Elias Alonzo Ford

Second son of John A. and Eliza Ford, born in Burton, April 15, 1840, was educated at Hiram, and taught school, just before the outbreak of the Rebellion, in Missouri. In the spring of 1861 he assisted in raising a volunteer company, in Geauga county, for the three months' service, and reported at Chardon with the company, but was too late to be mustered in. He retiyned to Burton and raised a company of "Militia of the Reserve," under the Ohio State law, and was elected captain. He drilled and kept up the organization until President Lincoln called for three years' men, when he stepped out from the State company, with seven others, and formed the nucleus around which company B, " Hitchcock Guards," Forty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, was formed. Mr. Ford drew up the enlistment roll himself, and was the first to sign it. The company formed, an election of officers was had by calling the roll. Mr. Ford's name being first, he nominated William R. Tolies for captain, W. W. Munn for first lieutenant, and H. W. Johnson for second lieutenant, who were elected, and commissioned by the governor of Ohio. He then took his place in the ranks, but was at once appointed by the three officers to the highest place in their gift - that of first sergeant. The company went into service in the fall of 1861, and early in 1862 he was promoted to second lieutenant, and soon after to first lieutenant, of the company. At the battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862, he had command of company B, Forty-first Ohio volunteer infantry. The regiment had been the pivot upon which that day's battle turned, as they had fought steadily, swinging around face to front on almost every point of the compass during the day. The terrible artillery fight, which began in the afternoon, brought the brigade in range of the enemy's shot and shell, and to save them, every regiment had been ordered to a new position. After fighting gloriously, the order came for the Forty-first Ohio to "fall back" and get shelter across the pike. His company rose up in good order, and as his sword waved in the light, and his voice shouted in the roar of that awful cannonade, "Steady on the left!" a minie-ball struck his right shoulder, and, passing through the right lung, was afterwards cut from under the skin of the right breast. Giving the command of his company to the sergeant, he started for the field hospital, feeling as if a cannon-ball had passed directly through him, but not knowing what the wound was. One of his sergeants, C. P. Bail, seeing that he was likely to fall, being weak from the loss, of blood, hurried to him in time to support him across a com-field and to the hospital. The ball being takeb out, by Dr. Cleveland, surgeon of the Forty-first, he was removed to the division hospital. The route back to this midnight acre of the wounded, and its surgeon's tent, that last night of December, 1862, and the journey on to Nashville the next day, was so vividly described by the pen of Mr. Ford's brother older (W. J. F.), then the

That awful night ! Words will not paint it, yet may give some faint idea of what sad experience a day of carnage brings. The moon shone out - traveling towards midnight in all the splendor of her majesty through a clear sky. The stars look in the beauty of their brightness from the heavens, as if to mock man and the dark, blood-stained earth.

At 9 o'clock of the evening of December 31st, an ambulance left one of the hospitals of Rosecrans' army, moving in the direction of Nashville. Two soldiers lay upon the mattresses of the carriage. The life blood of one, following the passage of a minnie ball through the breast, was oozing out from the right lung, staining the blankets beneath. The other, Private Wilder, suffering from a crushing shot through the left leg below the thigh, lay beside his fellow, scarcely conscious. Along with the carriage walked a private soldier - going to care for his w'ounded companions.

Three miles along the stony pike, literally guarded with the dead, lay their route. Here an artillery wagon had been swept by a bursting shell - its gun dismounted, its wheels shattered, the horses and men fallen together, lay mixed as they had gone do\m. The neck of a horse lay across the body of his rider, and the hub of a heavy wheel, broken from the axle, lay crushing upon the breast of the gunner. Still tangled in the harness, hitched to the caisson, lay the hind parts of a horse, his breast and fore legs swept away, while the lifeless body of an artillerist rested with an arm over the dismounted gun.

Slowly passed the ambulance by the destruction at this spot, the hard breath of the men inside telling of suffering. Yonder a cavalry man had fallen, his drawn saber reflecting in the moonlight against the dark earth where he lay; and beside him, his comrade and his horse, all keeping the same watch of death. Here a headless body, gave no face to the moonlight, and near by was all that remained of one - the entire breast being swept away.

Just out of the rut of the wheels, lay rows of dead men, friend and foe together, hastily thrown aside in the heat of battle, to save them from the crash of rolling wheels and tramp of flying horses rushing over the field.

The sharp frost of a clear night spread its white drapery over the clothes of the dead, and on the locks of many a veteran brave gathered its icy breath, offering to all alike a common shroud ; while the moonbeams, robbed of their paleness, gave ghastly stare to the faces of these sleepers of the last day of 1862, save where these beams fell on the faces of the fallen rebel foe - to go out in gloom; for invariably the faces of the rebels had turned black, the effect of gunpowdered whiskey, given to inspirit them to rush with the fury of demons, in the mad charge to death.

All along the road, for more than two miles, were these scenes of horror before the weary soldier. Still on rolled the ambulance past broken wagons - by strewn baggage and wasted stores - lost muskets and dismounted artillery, to the great general hospital of the fourth division.

Here, at midnight, lay the wounded and dying, covering an acre of ground around the great building, of which every room was filled, every outhouse crowded, every floor wet with blood. Close by, lay a man with an arm gonenext to him one with a leg smashed - there a part of a face#was shot away - another had his scalp torh open from ear to ear by a ball glancing over the skull - and farther on, one had his back carried away by a shot, leaving a cut in which you might lay your arm - one shot in the cheek, the ball passing into the mouth through the throat and down the neck, lodging between the shoulders. Yet all these hundreds living, many waiting the dressing of their wounds with patience. The two soldiers were taken from the ambulance into the building, and with hundreds of others closed no eyes to sleep that last December night.

Another soldier, having his foot shot away, had confiscated a horse that he found hitched on the field the day before, and climbing into the saddle with the remaining foot, rode back, and, with the guidance of one of General Hazen's orderlies, had found the hospital.

At 9 o'clock that morning this soldier, Lieutenant H. P. Wolcott, and the one wounded through the breast, were put into a strong army wagon, drawn by four horses, upon a hed of corn leaves and a mattress, and with the sergeant, and a "«'/// of a driver f Charley Stantial, started over the pike for Nashville. On rolled the heavy wagon, jarring and jolting, with a hundred more, passing ammunition caissons, among the dashing horses, by dead mules and flying wagons out to a bridge. Here the crowd halted, as only one team could pass at a time. Just as they reached this point, the enemy, sweeping around our right, had brought a battery to bear upon the. The shell came whizzing through the air over the pike. Panic seized the teamsters, and crowding upon the bridge a pell-mell retreat commenced, our driver pushing across and putting his horses upon the run, the enemy sweeping down in the rear with a fearful yell. Now came the ammunition caissons, each drawn by six horses - thundering over the road in swift retreat - army wagons full of wounded - flying on, sometimes six abreast, crowding upon the pike. Fearfully whirled our driver on, as if careless of the dying men in his charge, and only seeking safety in flight. Full three miles the race continued, when on came dashing a battalion of the rebel Wheeler's cavalry. The race opened again with fearful speed. Past our driver hurled the ammunition caissons - any moment they might lock wheels, and crush his wagon to atoms. Yet on past the ruins of wagons already down, and blocking the way ; amidst the flying fugitives on came the rebel cavalry, yelling and firing upon the teamsters and the wounded. Our sergeant tore the red lining from his overcoat, and hoisted it as a flag, hoping they would respect it, as they were capturing the third wagon in the rear. The breast-wounded soldier lay gasping, and ordered the other soldier, who held his footless leg in one hand to keep it from pounding upon the wagon bed, and a revolver in the other, to shoot the driver, if he did not stop, that they might surrender before they were murdered by the now near foe. But on, on, heedless alike of threats and enemy, dashed the driver - now coming against a wagon, completely blocking the road, yet wheeling with the fury of a madman, and cracking the whip upon the horses, rode into a close cut in a cedar thicket, and, whirling among the trees, emerged again on the pike, to find the 4th Michigan cavalry formed in column, awaiting the coming rebels, who, dashing around a bend in the road, met the sharp fire of the 4th's revolving rifles. Half a dozen rebels fell from their saddles. The Michigan cavalry charged with a shout, and the rebels fled. Nine miles over that stony road had the race continued. The determined driver had brought his team through and escaped, with the suffering load.

A long road to fhe city hospitals yet before them - the roar of booming guns far in the rear echoing along the hills, telling that comrades still struggled for victory - the sun descending would soon set and shut his glories from that New Years day - and night close in upon the exhausted and dying men, too weak now to whisper. Yet on they rode. The excitement of the race for life was past, and the last miles of weary travel dragged far into the evening hours. So exhausted that life was despaired of - at 9 o'clock that evening they were taken from the wagon at the Planter's hotel in Nashville, and placed upon good cots, receiving close attention at the hands of skilful surgeons.

Poor Patchin, now gone to rest, was brought in the same day. Lieutenant Beebe and Captain McCleery, wounded, rode over the same route in the wild confusion."

Thirty miles they rode that day, the oozing blood jolting out from Ford's lung, through the wound, until the mattress was covered with gore. This fearful ride over the stony pike, so cleared his lung as, without doubt, to save his life. He was the regular army correspondent of the 41st, to the Cleveland Herald,^ from the date of his letter to the Herald , which is before the writer now, it appears that he was able to write on the 20th of January, twenty days after the ride, and on the 21st was started for home on a furlough. His recovery was slow, and his physician certifying that it would be a long time before he would be fit for field duty, he resigned, and was honorably discharged in May, 1863. His lung healed, but, on taking cold, the scar feels tight on the lung, though no serious difficulty has been experienced. Colonel Wiley, of the 41st, says of him, at Stone River, that he "commanded his company with coolness, and steady and cheerful courage, until disabled by a wound in the body." He was made captain by brevet. His company passed resolutions complimentary of his service as a soldier and officer, and forwarded them to the press for publication, at the time of his discharge.

April 15, 1863, he was married to Miss Lucy J. Jeffery, of Cleveland; was agent in the Union ticket office in Cleveland, one year, and at Union depot six months. His abilities were recognized by the superintendent of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad, and he was employed as general western passenger agent of the road ; was promoted to general passenger agent of the Bellefontaine railway, in the fall of 1867, with an office at Indianapolis. On consolidation of the latter with the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati road, he was made general passenger agent of the whole line. May 15, 1871, he was promoted to general passenger and ticket agent of the Missouri Pacific railroad, at St. Louis, and salary raised; was with that company until September, 1876, when he was offered a better position, and pay, which he accepted, and was made general passenger and ticket agent of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain railroad, controlling the passenger department of six hundred and eighty-four miles of railway. Great energy and executive ability, with steady perseverance, have given him success. In the fall of 1879, he accepted the position of general passenger and ticket agent for the Vandalia route, being the western department of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, at an increased salary, and still has headquarters at St. Louis.

Seabury Ford

With a sense of sadness, in writing of him, one comes to a duty, which should be most impartially done, and yet, the sketch should be portrayed, with all the gentle delicacy of loving hands. Sad, because it requires the drafting of an unfinished work. The writer sees before him a column, resting upon a solid foundation, built of purest material, of artistic proportion, but incomplete. For some mysterious reason, the Great Architect has veiled from human eyes the perfection of his work. Again, abler pens have made record, in other pages, of the prominent events of his short life. It is the unwritten history, the things unrecorded of men, that furnish the true criterion by which they should be judged. Oftentimes, as men are known at home, and, in their private life and daily walk, are estimated, is their real value of character and qualities fixed, with more correct judgment than in the public ways. Eminently true was this of Governor Ford. As his neighbors knew him best, to be a true man in that broader sense of home kindness, and high citizenship, so was he.

He was the third son of John and Easter Ford, and was born at Cheshire, Connecticut, October 15, 1801. Hon. A. G. Riddle, in his admirable sketch for the Williams History, says: "The Fords were of good Scotch extraction, and trace back their pedigree through two or three centuries. His father, John Ford, was a man of large and vigorous mould, and great enterprise. His mother, Easter Cook, was daughter of Elam Cook, and sister of Judge Peter Hitchcock's wife. This branch of the Cook family were from Kent, England, and settled at Plymouth prior to 1640." Earlier than this date, there came, in one of the ships landing at this "Port of the Pilgrims," a widow Ford and her children.

The story of his infant journey of 700 miles, through an almost unbroken wilderness, in 1807, has been often told in sketches of himself, as well as of others. Of his youthful days in school, some things have been related, whether correctly or not. It is the writer's opinion that until sixteen or seventeen years of age, his school facilities w'ere very limited, and that almost his entire life had been spent with his brothers, in clearing up the large tracts of land owned by his father, John Ford, and in ordinary farm labors, a portion of each winter only, being spent in school. At eighteen, he determined upon a collegiate course of study, which ip those days was considered very much more of an undertaking than now. At the academy, in company with Rev. D. Witter, under the tuition of David L. Coe, he prepared for college, and in the summer of 1821, bade farewell to associates and home, for an absence of four years, and with his companion, Mr. Witter, started for Newr Haven, Connecticut. Their "sleeping car" was a one-horse wagon, with baggage piled in the rear, and motive power ahead in shape of a good stout horse. After a journey of many days, the events of which are not recorded, the classic shades of "Old Yale" were reached, successful examinations wTere passed, and the two were the first students from the new State of Ohio, in that historic college, Mr. Witter entering the sophomore class and Mr. Ford the freshman.

He early took a prominent position in his class and in the college, and was chosen commander of the college forces and presiding officer in " Bully's Hall," w'hich position he retained during his entire collegiate course. The " Bully," so called, was not only commander of the college forces, in all matters of warfare between

Yale and her ancient enemies, but he was the arbiter or judge, before whom all matters in difference between students were tried, and his decision was held by their laws to be final. Among his classmates, were men who have since adorned the ranks of every profession, some have been prominent as lawyers and statesmen. The southern States were well represented in Yale at that time, and in a " Libellus Memoralis" in possession of the family, are found sentiments written by men who were prominent on the Confederate side of the late civil war. His room-mate, during the college course, was William Rutherford Hayes, of Brattleboro, Vermont, afterwards United States consul at the Barbadoes. He was the uncle of President Hayes (after whom the president was named).

Ford spent the long summer vacations with Hayes at his Vermont home, and a warm friendship existed between them, which the lapse of years, cares, affections and ambitious of after life, served not to abate in the least, as their frequent and voluminous correspondence, up to the date of the death of Mr. Hayes, is witness. Hayes died at Barbadoes only a year prior to the death of Ford. In 1847, twenty-two years after graduation and parting, they arranged to meet again at New Haven. In a letter, dated Barbadoes, June, 16, 1847, Hayes writes to Ford: "We shall, if we meet, no doubt see great changes in each other, produced in the course of 22 years. I feel as young as I did then, and must say, that, so far as this world goes, I have been more prospered than I ever expected to be. I long to see you and yours, and shall feel as proud of your honors, as though they were my own. However others may regard you, to me you are my dear old chum. May God bless and keep you, and may we be permitted, ere long, the great satisfaction of looking upon each other's faces again." The long desired and looked-for meeting took place as arranged, at New Haven, in September, 1847.

Graduating in 1825, he returned to Ohio, and immediately began the study of law, in the office of Samuel W. Phelps, esq., at Painesville. Mr. Phelps died soon afterwards, and Mr. Ford returned to Burton and completed his studies with his uncle, Judge Peter Hitchcock. He was admitted to the bar in 1827, at about the same time that Edward and Benjamin F. Wade began practice, and two or three years preceding the admission of his cousin, Reuben Hitchcock. Mr. Ford opened an office at Burton, where he always continued it. He paid more especial attention to chancery cases, than to general practice. As a counsellor he was regarded safe and conscientious, always avoiding litigation at the expense of his own pocket, rather than encouraging it. His love of home, early associations and country life, prevented him from yielding to urgent solicitations to form partnerships in larger places, where the practice would be of a different character and more remunerative. *

His love of military^affairs led him to an active and prominent part in organizing and disciplining the militia. The "general trainings" of those days called together the people of several counties, and they were considered never-to-beforgotten grand affairs. He attained the rank of major-general. Of his public life Mr. Riddle has written :

" He had from the first a relish for politics, and an aptitude and ambition for affairs. His bias, surroundings and training were with the friends of Henry Clay; and although not a mason, he was not of those who deemed it advisable to organize a party in opposition to masonry, and the anti-masons defeated him in his first canvass for the legislature. He was necessarily a Whig, and the party took final form and name in 1834. In 1835 he was elected a representative to the legislature, and, with the exception of a single year, served in that body until 1848, when he was elected governor. He served two or more terms in the senate ; was once speaker of the house, and twice of the senate, as the presiding officer of that body was then called. [Under the old constitution, representatives were elected yearly, so a campaign had to be fought each season.]

"Few men in Ohio had so long a period of service in the legislature. No one was, on the whole, so useful to the State. Within the limits of a sketch which cannot be passed, one can hardly bring within the intelligent appreciation of the newer generation, the extent and value of his labors in this field. At his entrance upon public life, the State was groaning under an enormous debt for extensive, unfinished and generally unproductive canals. She was without any system of finance, either as to banks or taxation, and her scheme of common schools was hardly rudimentary."

A matter of great interest and importance to her people was, in his judgment, that the State should establish and maintain a banking system that would furnish a uniform currency. He mastered all the known sources of information, and studied with care various reports relating to finance, and was conversant with the rights of the people and of the banks. In 1839, when the bill to prevent the banks from issuing notes of a less denomination than five dollars, was before the legislature, he took the floor against the measure. Extracts from his speech, here given, not only illustrate his comprehensive knowledge, and his power as a debater, but are similar to ideas used in the present day, and show how history is repeated. He said:

"Sir: - I am for bank reform, I am for securing bill-holders, protecting the rights of the people and restricting the issues, and bringing the banks within the limits to which they may go and do business with safety - whenever and whenever it can be constitutionally done - and in no instance would I give power to corporations to work an injury to the people. Take the gentlemen upon their own ground, that there is issued three dollars in bills for every dollar of specie. What are the consequences which must inevitably follow? If the specie be taken out, the banks must curtail their discounts in proportion, because you will not allow them, and they ought not to issue more than they have a sure basis to sustain. You then withdraw from the State, a circulation of one million, five hundred thousand dollars and supply its place with five hundred thousand only. Thus, the capital of the merchant, the mechanic, the manufacturer, and the farmer is reduced two-thirds, and just in proportion as their capital is reduced, so is their business decreased, and in proportion to the destruction of business, so is reduced the demand for laborers. But it is said that this measure is for the benefit of the poor and laboring classes of community. It is not so: when you have destroyed t>vo-thirds of the business done in community, by taking away the capital which sustained it, you throw out of employ so many of the hands engaged upon your canals, in your manufactories, and in every other branch of business, and deprive them of the means of sustaining themselves and families, and thus take the very bread from the mouths of the hungry. Shall we be told that the banks will yield to this restriction, and when their means of doing business are taken away, that they will procure a new supply? From whence and how shall they procure it? Does not every one know that he or they who would have money, must buy it, and must have something to buy it with. It is a well established fact that there are but $800,000,000 in all Europe and America, of which the United States have their full proportion of $80,000,000, all of which is circulating in the hands of individuals, and must of necessity remain there, except the amount heretofore shown to be in the vaults of the banks. Whence can this additional supply of specie be obtained? Not from Europe, because we have not the means of purchasing it. But suppose that our exports should for a time, so far exceed our imports, as to produce a large increase of specie in this country, this would only destroy the just equilibrium in Europe, and some reversion of trade must take place which would again withdraw it, because money, as naturally as water, will seek its proper level. I now pass to the other branch of the subject, in which I propose to show, that the legislature has not the constitutional power to pass a bill of this description. If the dangerous doctrine, which we so often hear advanced in this place, that the legislature is omnipotent, and cannot be bound or controlled by any precedent or law, and that every man shall construe and be bound by the constitution, as he understands it is to prevail, you have no anchor of safety, but are left to the fury of political faction ; or if the doctrine, that every man shall construe the constitution as he understands it, be recognized, then you may have for the government of this house, in its duties, seventy-two constitutions of this State, and seventy-two constitutions of the United States, and according to the number of voters at the last election, you may have two hundred and seven thousand constitutions, for the government of the State, and anarchy and confusion uncontrollable would inevitably follow. Sir, this will not do; power must be vested somewhere - there must be a fundamental law for our guide, beyond which we ought not, and cannot pass, without revolution. Have we no such fundamental law? We have. Our ancestors formed the constitution under which we have so long existed as a government. By this instrument, in the 3d article, the judicial power of the United States is vested in the supreme court, and such other courts, as shall, from time to time, be established, and this power is expressly declared to extend 'to all cases, in law or equity, arising under the constitution.5 Thus, then, we find where the constitution itself has placed the power of deciding upon constitutional questions, as a last resort, which decision must be binding and final. The tenth section of the first article of the constitution declares, that 'no State shall pass any ex post facto law, or laws, impairing the obligation of contracts;5 and the same is the language of the constitution of this State. A contract may be defined to be an agreement between two parties able to contract, willing to contract, and having subject-matter about which they contract. How is the case here? A part of the people of the State (for the stockholders are a part of the people) have made a proposition to the other part of the people, through their agent, the legislature, which proposition was duly considered, accepted, and the agreement entered into, with all its terms, and conditions, fully expressed, in form of a charter. Here, then, are all the ingredients of the contract - the parties, the ability, the subject-matter, and the assent of the parties. What is the consideration? may be asked. I answer, the subject-matter is the consideration; that is, the objects for which the corporation is-created. * * * * If the banks have been guilty of the enormities, with which they are charged, on the stump, and elsewhere, take the legal course to bring them to justice, and I will go along with the foremost. I stand here as the advocate of the rights of the people who have placed me here ; and how can I better sustain their rights, than by defending, against inroads, that constitution which I an bound to support. Sir, the vandal hand of the destructives must be stayed. If these pernicious doctrines are suffered to prevail, the mighty fabric of free government, reared by the sacrifices and wisdom of our forefathers, will crumble into dust, anarchy will succeed to law, and despotism will eventually usurp the place of constitutional liberty.

Of this speech the Columbus Journal and Register , of January 9, 1839, said, editorially: "Our first page is occupied by the clear and forcible argument of Mr. Ford, against the 'Small Note bill.5 We deem this .speech conclusive of both the constitutionality and expediency of the measure. It should be circulated widely by the Whig press of the State, to the end that the people may see and know how they are being humbugged by the pretended Bank reformers.55

The greatest known period of financial disaster fell on the American world in 1837, during Mr. Ford's third term as representative, and the financial ruin of the

State seemed almost inevitable. Under a law which was then called the " Plunder Act," the State had been obliged to be a partner in the building of canals, railroads and turnpikes, with private and public corporations. The southwest portion of the State was checkered by public improvements, that the entire State had been, and was being, taxed to pay for. Geauga county, without a railroad, or canal, or turnpike, or public institution of any kind, within miles of her borders, was paying equal tribute with those who received the direct benefit. In 1840, this act had enabled the manipulators of Locofoco legislatures to incur a debt of over eighteen millions of dollars, with the immediate prospect of its being increased to over twenty-six millions. The interest of the debt alone exceeded the entire revenues of the State, which could be lawfully applied to its payment.

One of the traits of Mr. Ford's character, not generally known, was that of self-depreciation and despondency. He had introduced in the house his bill to repeal the " Plunder Act." On Saturday, January 7, 1840, he writes to an intimate friend : " I am fully sensible of my own weakness and deficiency, and am consequently gloomy and despondent, and am aware, too, that this feeling destroys my self-reliance, and makes me timid and hesitating. While I know that this is my own character, I am sure that the public do not know it.

No one knows how much I suffer from this feeling. My fellow-members suppose I arise to speak with the greates ease, and without fear or hesitation, when, in fact, nothing but force of circumstances could drive me to it." On the following Monday, the bill being on its passage, he made a speech, the report of which is before me, and fills an entire page of the tri-weekly Ohio State Journal of that date, and of which the Columbus correspondent, in the Cleveland Herald, of January 18, 1840, said : " I wish that every man on the Western Reserve could read this argument. It is clear, analytical, argumentative and convincing, and shows beyond all cavil, the inequality and absurdity of the operation of this law. It shows, too, that Mr. Ford is a treasure to the State in these times. Mr. Ford (although young in years) is an experienced member, talented, industrious, of the most unbending integrity, and possessed of a most determined and unflinching spirit of opposition to all demagogues and their measures. His enemies fear him as much as they also respect his talents."

Parts of this speech, so widely published, have been copied here, giving briefly his views upon so important a measure, and, in his own clear and forcible language, leaving the impress upon the page of history, more perfect than any one can write. His words were as follows :

"What, when some large portions of the State have been benefited and enriched by the construction of public works, wholly at the expense of the State, then say to the other portions, if you will still pay taxes for the interest of the costs on these works, and contribute one-half or twothirds out of your own pockets for the construction of your works, the State will then contribute the other one-third or one-half, according to the kind of work in which you wish to engage ! Such is the equal and exact justice proposed by this law, which it is now sought to repeal. Sir, the law itself bears upon its very face, the impress of inequality, injustice, and wickedness, in too glaring a manner to be mistaken. It needs only an examination of the map which I hold in my hand, to show that its operation has been most unequal and worked the most flagrant injustice. A small portion of territory in the southwestern section of your State, is almost entirely covered with turnpikes, railroads, and canals, in which the State is a partner under this law. Yes, it has even become proverbial that farmers are becoming alarmed, lest there should not be any lands left for them to cultivate. And here it is, that the beauties of this boasted law of equality and justice are most clearly developed. That portion of the State which you had contributed by your public works to enrich, has only done what others of our people would have done under similar circumstances. The uniform tendency of the law is to place additional burdens upon .those who have before paid heavy taxes, to add additional wealth to those whom your works had before made rich ; or, in other words, to make the poor poorer, and the rich richer. * * * As I have before said, the period has arrive^ when absolute necessity compels us to enter into a system of retrenchment with regard to our public expenditures, and this law is one of the most fruitful sources of expenditure, and that of the most extravagant kind, and its repeal is loudly called for from all parts of the State.

The prospective debt, if we continue in our present course, is $26,995,350. Let us then look back to the debt of $18,431,900, which we must have hanging over us without any new State works, or new subscriptions under the plunder act, and see if we are in a situation to increase that debt. The interest is $1,105,914 per year, and to be paid semi-annually. The means for the payment of this interest must be provided. How is it to be done? Can you pay it by borrowing money, thereby adding to the principal to pay the interest? So far as we are now informed, even this miserable resort has failed us. Your commissioners, during the past season, have traversed not only the United States, but England, and perhaps Europe, to procure the fund required, but they have failed, most signally failed in every' attempt. What then is the next and last resort. It must be raised by taxation. How shall the installment that becomes due on the first day of July next, be met? Near $300,000 must be paid for that purpose; the plighted faith of the State must be sustained; I repeat it, the faith of the State must be sustained. I ask, has any member devised a plan by which this payment can be met, unless it be raised by taxation? Sir, the prospect is gloomy. In this town, where, last year, there were twenty thousand barrels of pork put up, and sent off on the canal, there will not, in all probability, be three thousand this year; equally so throughout the State. Look along the whole length of your canals - see the storehouses, where, last year, at this time, there were hundreds of thousands of bushels of wheat waiting for the opening of navigation ; now, you may safely say there is scarcely thousands. Why£ Because there are no purchasers, for the want of means to purchase. But another and an alarming difficulty meets us here. In what funds shall it be paid? It must be specie. Brokers and money-shavers are also carrying out specie for the purpose of selling it at a premium. Add to this the amount necessary to pay the interest on our public debt, and it will drain every dollar of specie from the State. Let this process continue till the first of July next, and it is a matter of doubt whether there can be obtained convertible funds in the State, sufficient to pay the installment then due. Who, from present appearances, can predict any better times? A debt hanging over the nation to foreign countries, exclusive of mercantile debts, on State bonds, canal and railroads, and city corporation bonds, to the amount of $200,000,000 - drawing away, for the payment of interest, the very life-blood of the whole country. Grievous taxation, with the prospect of increasing burdens, stares us in the face. Near $400,000 is now due to contractors and laborers on our public works, and who are now suffering for the want of what the State justly owes them for their labor, and not a dollar in hand to cancel the debt. The anticipated reverse has fallen upon, and affected alike, the finances and policy of the State - and our extended business, deranged our money matters, reduced the value of our lands, our labor, and the product's of our agriculture, which must still further decrease, as thousands of hands are thrown out of employ on the public works, and become producers instead of consumers. Sir, the times and circumstances demand that every one should come firmly to the work, discarding all selfish motives, and, meeting the crisis with a patriotic desire to protect the interests of the State, promptly adopt such measures as will relieve the people, or at least prevent the increase of the burdens under which they are laboring."

He had acquired a fund of information, relating to public affairs, equaled by few men of his time. His public standing is well expressed in the words of another: "In the house he was recognized as one of the most valuable members, and was placed on the most important committees. He shrank from no labor; avoided no task. He seldom addressed the house, and then only on thorough preparation and upon some matter of business legislation, and, as he invariably had some much-needed information, he was always listened to with interest and close attention."

The Whigs having obtained possession of the State government, the objects of legislation, for which Mr. Ford spent his time, strength and energies, from 1837 to 1842, were accomplished, namely: "A new system of banking upon secure foundations was constructed, a new scheme of taxation created, and the common schools were placed on an enlightened and liberal basis. This gave to the State the form and structure of policy, under which she began and continued to prosper, and from which she has never departed. And it is no more than just to Mr. Ford, and no injustice to others, to say that Ohio is more indebted to him than to any other one man, for the fashioning and adoption of these wise measures. The discussions which they gave rise to, contain no abler or more forcible productions than the speeches delivered by him while they were under discussion - speeches widely read, justly admired, and which largely contributed to the success of this policy with the people."

In 1838, he was the rival of Joshua R. Giddings, for the Whig nomination for congress, and failed by one or two votes only. In 1844, he was returned to the house. It was during this year that the memorable presidential contest between Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, occurred. Mr. Ford was a conspicuous supporter of Clay. He entered into the fight with a full determination to carry Ohio for his favorite leader. He spoke day and night for many weeks, in all portions of the State. Although the Whigs were defeated in the general election, Ohio was carried for Clay.

In 1845 he was again sent to the senate from his old district, and was chosen speaker of that body. In the session of 1847, he took a prominent part in remodelling the tax laws of the state, "so as to levy taxes upon all property in the state according to its true value, and the same as to bank capital." The papers of that date speak in the highest commendatory terms of his efforts in this work. Mr. Ford had twice been widely named as a suitable candidate for the chief executive office of Ohio. The time was approaching when a successor to Governor Bebb was to be chosen, and the eyes of the Whigs were at once turned to him as the man to lead them in the campaign of 1848. The Whig convention of February, 1848, recognized his great popularity and strength, and placed him at the head of their ticket. That was the fatal year of General Taylor, of the Buffalo convention, the secession of the Whigs of the Reserve, and the formation of the Free-soil party. It was mainly by the efforts of these Whigs that Mr. Ford was nominated. They controlled the new party, so far as to prevent the nomination of a Free-soil candidate for governor. They knew and trusted General Ford.

Among those brought into notice by the Free-soil movement, was the Hon. Albert G. Riddle, then a young lawyer of recognized talent, who had studied law under General Ford, and who felt as devoted to him and his cause as he could have done were he a son. His influence among the leaders of the party of his adoption, secured to Mr. Ford a strong support from its ranks ; and when the result of the election disclosed the small majority by which the Whigs had pre- vailed, it could almost with certainty be said, that an absence of Mr. Riddle's efforts would have left the majority on the other side. The canvass of votes in the legislature was an exciting affair, and has been often referred to in the public press and by public speakers, during the late Tilden vs. Hayes presidential contest ; but, as it is a matter of rocord in so many other places, further mention of it will be omitted here.

Of Governor Ford's inaugural address the Cleveland Herald, , of January 20, 1849, ln an editorial, says: "The subject matter of the inaugural is in excellent taste, and every word falls into its proper place, like a block of granite, from the builder's bands. General Seabury Ford is a true representative of that glorious race of pioneers, under the influence of whose sound judgment, profound sagacity and moral excellence the Buckeye State - this young Hercules of the west - has reached its present commanding position. He sets up no claim to empty, superfluous accomplishments, but in the more solid virtues of prudence, foresight, integrity, and strong practical common sense, he is pre-eminent We commend the address to the careful attention of our readers as a model in every essential particular."

Mr. Riddle says of him in that connection: "His inaugural and annual messages are among the clearest and ablest of the Ohio State papers. His discharge of the duties of Governor was among the most useful and honorable to the State, of all the able men who have filled that position. The old constitution left but a narrow field to the executive; every part of it was fully improved for the public good."

In 1849 cholera made its appearance, in a malignant form, at the State capital, and amid the consternation and flight which ensued, Governor Ford went to the capital and devoted himself, with all his individual faculties and executive powers, to the arrest of the disease in the city, and the numerous and crowded public institutions of the State. On this subject, the writer quotes the following from an article written by Hon. Charles B. Flood, formerly editor of the Ohio Statesman (and a bitter opponent of General Ford), and published in a recent number of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"Seabury Ford made many friends. He was a man of sound sense. While Governor, the cholera broke out in the Ohio penitentiary. The governor was absent. To be used in extraordinary cases, he had left a small number of blank pardons with Mr. Galloway, the secretary of State. The scene in the penitentiary and in the city was fearful. Galloway could not withstand the piteous appeals for liberty, and he soon exhausted the pardons and wrote to Ford for more. This the governor refused, but wrote Mr. Galloway that he would visit Columbus immediately. He did so ; went to the prison, examined the hospital and patients, and assembled the convicts and told them that no pardons would be issued while the cholera was in the prison ; that to those who behaved well, nursed the sick and aided in cleaning the prison, pardons on the recommendation of the officers would be freely granted when the danger was passed. Even those who had homes to go to, could not be half as well nursed or attended as in the prison hospital, and that the appearance of a single man in a neighborhood who was known to have been in prison and pardoned because of the cholera, would create alarm, and perhaps produce the much dreaded disease. The men were satisfied, The effect in the city w'as good, and the heroism and good sense of Governor Ford were much commended. He left office with the kind feelings and good will of the entire community, as a sensible and honest governor. It is pleasant thus to speak words of deserved praise of one who was a life-long political opponent."

Upon resignation of Thomas Corwin of his seat in the United States senate, to take a place in President Fillmore's cabinet, Mr. Ford at once tendered the

Soon after the expiration of his term of office in 1851, he was stricken down with paralysis, a dread disease. The physician's art could not restore life and vigor to the palsied frame, but possessed of an iron constitution and resolute will, he fought it by sheer force, for four years before he yielded and passed over to the "silent majority," May 8, 1855. His grave is in the little cemetery east of the village. During that four years he realized that death had fastened his hold upon him, and he sought to make amends to his estate, by personal attention to its affairs. The great State of Ohio at that time, paid its chief magistrate eighteen hundred dollars a year and "no perquisetes." His entire public service was comparatively unremunerative, and he found that in a pecuniary sense his life had been thrown away. His advice to his oldest son - Seabury - in a letter written while he was Governor, is in the following words : * * * " Avoid politics and public life, until by a careful and industrious attention to a legitimate and honorable calling, you have accumulated a fortune sufficiently large to entitle you to the respect and confidence of your fellow-men, as a business man and a man of integrity, and sufficiently large, to render you thorot^hly and entirely independent of any official salary."

Attractive in person and manners, with intellectual forces well trained, it is not strange that he was a great favorite with the girls, but among them all,

Harriet Cook - was the one favored with especial attention. She was a daughter of John Cook, esq., was born August 20, 1807, and raised with many early advantages. She was scarcely fifteen, when the young student left for college, was just budding into womanhood, with much promise of rapid development and early maturity. He carried with him the young girl's fancy, and though in the years of his absence she matured to a tall, slender woman of much beauty and grace, and was much sought after, her maiden ear remained closed until he should return to speak words he had not hinted, but which when his course was ended, he was not . slow in uttering. In 1824, Seabury came home during his junior vacation. He was to visit Warren, Austinburg, Harpesfield, and elsewhere, and he invited Harriet to accompany him. He was near twenty then, and she seventeen. The consent of her mother obtained, and each well mounted, with a small portmanteau attached to the saddle, in which were the needed changes and finery, they rode away. What a preparation was this for visiting the aristocracy in Warren, by this young girl, hereafter to be the wife of the Chief Executive of the State. What a magnificent wardrobe must have been hers, all packed in a small valise? It was early September, when, full of spirits, those two pushed their horses down through Parkman and the big, dense woods of Southington, reaching Warren the first night, where they remained two days. Harriet stopped at R. P. Spalding's, while Seabury staid at Parkman's. They remained two nights, and had two parties made for, and much attention paid to, them.

From Warren they rode to Austinburg, forty miles or more, in a single day, and remained a week, the guests of the Austins. The eldest of the Austin sons was a great stage proprietor, and one day a four-horse coach bore them to the lake, and afterwards to other points. At the conclusion of their visit, they again took horse for Burton hill, riding through the fearful swamps of Windsor. While trailing along in a quaggy wallow of mud, the saddle of the young maiden turned, and to save herself from a worse mishap, she sprang from it, alighting upon her feet. The gallantry of her companion was put to the test of pulling her from the mire, readjusting and aiding her to remount. This was done with grace by him, and acknowledged by her with many blushes. At the same time the incident afforded both parties much amusement, as they rode. After this excursion. Seabury returned to Yale, and wrote a minute account of the trip, but said noth- ing ere he went. There was no need, though seventeen, and mature of her age - an age when girls are eagerly sought for, her heart taught her what, and whom, she might wait for, and trust.

They were married September 10, 1828, and there is abundant evidence that their married life was a happy one. Mrs. Ford had a loyal admiration, as well as true love, for her husband. He always to her, remained the one man to look up to, and be ambitious for. She was always ready to do all in her power to aid his advancement, and sat at his side, when chief magistrate, with just womanly pride. She still survives him, a widow, cherishing his memory with a true and Christian loyalty. She lives at the old family mansion, in Burton, surrounded by loving friends and children, patiently awaiting the message, which, as she firmly believes, will reunite her to her beloved husband. There are elements in his home life and character which ought not to be overlooked. Ambitious, and fond of public life, as he was, yet, at home was given full play for all the best traits of his character. Both he and Mrs. Ford were of Puritan stock, and at their home were kept alive and vigorous many of the lovely virtues, charities, truths and wisdoms coming from that ancestry. Mr. Ford was much admired by his home friends and neighbors for his kindness of heart, his obliging manners, and his readiness to aid any needing it, and especially to give his personal assistance in caring for the sick and suffering.

The words of Hon. A G. Riddle who knew him well, and who was intimately associated with him during much of his public life, seem fitting tribute with which to close this record :

"Seabury Ford owed nothing to accident or luck. He achieved nothing which he did not earn twice over, and nothing ever came to him that was not overdue. He made no proclamation, or assertion of himself, and was no seeker of high places. He began, and, with intelligent labor, patiently constructed every step of his way in open light, from his own door, through years of hard, faithful and valuable public service, to the head of a great State, at the age of forty-seven; and except his uncle, the late Chief Justice Hitchcock, whose career his own resembled, few men have rendered more intrinsically valuable services to the State, with so small a return of emolument and fame.

" The monument to his memory is the solid, enduring, useful work of his own hand so unostentatiously placed in the working machinery and structure of the State, as scarcely to be identified, and so long ago as not to be within the memory of the younger generation. In person he was about five feet eight, deep chested and heavy shouldered. He had a remarkably well-formed head, brow and eyes, with a striking manly face; in manners unaffected and simple, a man of wide and varied reading, especially in early American history, familiar with all current politics, well versed in the studies of finance and political economy. The characteristics of his mind were clearness and force; rather slow, but with a power to grasp and fix a subject, until its utmost secret and quality were mastered. His mind was logical, and he came to be a capital good speaker. Master of his subject, master of a terse style, and nervous language. Speaking from intense conviction, without a suspicion of insincerity, he never failed to command attention and respect, and never left a subject without enlightening the minds of his audience. Of warm temperament, his passions, though ardent, usually lay powerless under his will. A sincere, uncalculating friend, a good deal of a partisan in politics, he was a most sincere and devout hater; a hater of all things mean, sinister, or indirect; a hater of all manner of shams, with .which he classed the Democracy of his day. With them it was bitter, utter, interminable war. He was reared an orthodox Congregationalist, and his religious sentiments partook of the sincerity of his nature and character, finding expression in life and action, rather than profession and creed.

"At fifty-three, his death was untimely ; just at the maturity of his faculties, at a time when he could be most useful, when the State was full of his name, when he had rounded a most complete and honorable career - second to none in value to the public - when he might have successfully looked to higher fields, in the broader arena of the nation, he was stricken down, leaving his sons in their unformed character and lives, and a country, which needed his head and hand.

" It seemed like the economy that shatters a strong, well-formed column, just as it is completed, leaving a public edifice unsupported that required its strength."

William R. - the eldest son, was born July 5, 1829. He *s remembered as being a noble-hearted youth. In mind, as in person and manner, much like' his father, he was greatly beloved by his associates. He died April 19, 1847.

Seabury C. - third son, born September 6, 1834. A boy of vim, used to love a four-horse team of boys and the Jehu crack of the whip, and likes a good horse now. The "old family mansion" stands next door to the store so long occupied by George Boughton. He had no children, and after the father's death, interested himself in the rearing of these boys. Seabury had a fair academical opportunity for schooling. His tendencies were to business, and he was bred to it by his uncle George, soon becoming a partner with him in trade. September 19, 1859, he was married to Mary A. Gilmore. In 1864 they removed to Cleveland, where he engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe business, with A. E. Adams, under the name of Adams & Ford. After a time they manufactured goods for their trade. Mr. Ford attends to the buying, and to the financial part of the business. From a small beginning, with untiring energy and care, he has seen their trade increase until their house is one of the largest in the city. His wife, an intelligent and social lady, always light of heart in the home circle, wasted, under the winds of this lake shore region, and passed away September 5, 1867. His second marriage, with Miss M. Estella Barney, occurred June 13, 1878.

Robert Neil - the youngest son, born May 7, 1846, was a hearty boy, and when he came to study, went down to it with a will that would have placed him in the front rank as a scholar. He was in the classes of the Eclectic, at Hiram, in August, 1861, and remained two terms. Going from there the following April, he entered the preparatory department of the Western Reserve College, in Hudson, and afterwards was in the college class nearly a year. The older brother, Seabury, going into business in Cleveland, gave opportunity for him to be with his uncle Boughton in business. The college course was abandoned. With his brother, George H., he entered into partnership with George Boughton, in the mercantile business, in 1864, in which they continued until 1872. This year a banking business was commenced under the name of Boughton, Ford & Co., and he became the working member of the firm. Under his care it has growrn to cover an extensive field. His genial face smiles on the patrons, who always find him at the counter ready for deposit or loan. Of solid body and cool head, his ambitions will lead towards wealth. In music he is an enthusiast. Work pertaining to it is recreation to him. His marriage with Mary A Tuttle occurred September 16, 1867, and with his mother, they still keep up the warm glow of hospitality in the old Ford home.

George Henry Ford

This gentleman enjoys the rare good fortune, as it is thought, of being usually spoken of by all three of his names. The first and second he derives from, his uncles, his senior partners. The third he inherited from a man to whom his native State is as much, or more indebted, than to any other of her public men. He is third son of the late Governor Seabury and Harriet Ford, born at Burton, Ohio,* March 10, 1842, and now (1879), thirty-seven years old.

Of such parentage, and reared in a town quite as New Englandish, as any in the section of that name, deriving from his patents, as he did, a vigorous and healthy frame, and a vigorous mind, he grew through a vigorous healthy child and boyhood, to a vigorous and healthy manhood, bodily, mentally and morally. I am not certain but that the rather strait orthodoxy of his native atmosphere, may not, in his case, have produced a natural recoil, resulting in views, if not original with him, certainly not taught in the religious pale in which he was reared.

Of the course of his early education, as, indeed, of his whole life, the scanty data before me, do not permit me to speak. That it was largely the district school of Burton, is undoubtedly true. That his facilities were ample, is shown by the fact that he entered Western Reserve College at sixteen, where he graduated in 1862, at twenty years of age. I have not a scrap of his college course.

During the late war, he served several months as a volunteer in the 85th Ohio volunteer infantry. On his return from the war, he became a law student in the office of Messrs. Hitchcock & Estep, of Cleveland, where he remained for a year, and then became one of the present firm of Boughton, Ford & Co., of Burton, where he has since resided, He afterward finished his legal studiesand was admitted to the bar. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1864, and re-elected in 1867 and '70.

In 1871 he was elected by the Republicans to the old seat of his father, in the Ohio house of representatives, and re-elected in 1873. In the house he was at once recognized as one of the most thoughtful, practical, useful and modest members of that body, seemingly unambitious, and rather avoiding occasions which would bring him into favorable notice, such as his talents would naturally command. Among the measures advocated by him, was a bill which he introduced, for the creation of the Ohio State University. This proposed to consolidate the three weak State institutions, and produce one large, strong, liberally endowed university. The scheme attracted the favorable notice of liberal-minded educators, and had it been adopted, would have placed Ohio by the side of Michigan, in this respect. Mr. Ford has always been an enlightened and most pronounced Republican, liberal, but not tolerant of those who would work miracles by other than the true faith.

He has usually been on the committees of his county, senatorial, and congressional committees, has been several times at their respective heads, was a delegate in the national convention which nominated President Hayes, and made himself felt in that body. Frank and outspoken, he has left no doubt as to his estimate of the president's course and policy. He has been more liberally endowed by nature, than the majority of his fellows. Finely formed, of manly symmetry, a large, well developed head, unusually good eyes, large and lustrous, and well featured, he has manners and address, especially wining, when he cares to please. He possesses a singularly, well balanced mind, of large capacity, and well developed faculties. Quick in perception, able and logical, a good speaker, and he puts himself well on paper when he will. He never cares to be showy. He is a man to be liked, and is largely, personally popular, though he never seems to think it worth his while to care much how he he stands. This very indifference may be one of the sources of the general liking for him. It often wins with women when active court fails. Of course, he has the full measure of the Ford personal integrity.

There is something a little puzzling, not to say exasperating, in Mr. Ford's career, to many of his friends. With his ability, personal popularity, the prestige of his name, and having opportunities, he appears quite indiffent to the openings to a man's ambition, and instead of reaching forth his hand and grasping what seems within his easy reach, he leaves them to others. This younger generation of men may be wiser, and set less value upon the ordinary objects of pursuit than their fathers. They may have less faith, less self-sacrifice, do not care to pay the price in hard work and self-devotion, which alone win, and are quite content to have it thought that they could if they would. He is still quite a young man, not yet at the maturity of his powers, stands well at the bar, in the legislative halls, is becoming widely known and trusted in the higher business circles. Is still laying, extending and solidifying his foundation; has a long, useful and, if he wishes it, a conspicuous career before him. That it will be full of individual honor and integrity, is already assured.

In 1866, Mr. Ford was united in wedlock with Corinne E., daughter, and only child, of Carlos and Electa Williams, of Burton. On her mother's side, the descendent of a race, the women of which, are distinguished for their beauty of person, and possessing the qualities which go to form excellence and perfection in the feminine character. This favored woman fully sustains their high character in all those respects. Of this fortunate union five children have been born - Seabury W., Helen R., Louis Jay, Carl Boughton, and George H. Seabury W. died October 10, 1868, and George H. died August 4, 1879. Their cottage home, in the village of Burton, is one of rare felicity; was it less blessed, its master might be more actively ambitious.

Henry Hine Ford

The youngest son of John and Easter Ford, was born February 27, 1814. His first recollection dates back to the story of being rocked in a cradle made out of a hollow log, in the old red house that stands southeast of his present home. It is said that he was so good natured as to go to sleep without rocking, and that trait of good feeling is strong at the age of 65. Neri Wright - afterwards Judge - taught school in a log house just over the line in Claridon, north of the brook, and his tact kept this boy advancing in reading, spelling and arithmetic three winters. Wright was justice of the peace, and left the school in charge of his step-daughter, Adiresta, one day, while he went to hold court at his house. Some big boys asked to go out. Full of mischief, they beset a flock of geese, and caught a white gander. One climbed the logs and stood on the roof by the big mud and stick chimney, while the others handed up the gander, which was dropped down the chimney, flapping the soot and ashes with his wings through the room, and, "squawling" loudly terrifying the teacher and children, who thought a ghost had come. His schooling was finished in the academy under the instruction of Reuben Hitchcock and Mr. Witter.

At the age of 14, a singular accident occured, and even in the far away distance of years it brings the tinge of sadness. It was so strange an event it should be recited here. In the road south of the house, with a smooth-bore rifle, loaded with a loose ball, he stood and aimed at a turkey in the garden east, shooting its head off. The ball struck a frozen stump and glanced to the left, on a quarter angle, and passed through two half-inch pannels of a wagon box, grazing the felloe of the wheel, and struck Heman Truman, a boy 13 years old, in the abdomen. He died from the effects of the wound. It was a great sorrow to the young Ford.

Manifesting more interest in steers than books, at the age of 16, he was put in charge of his father's farm, 1 60 acres, and also looked after the Griffith farm of 160 acres, over the liver, where Albert Tuttle now lives. Of this, 50 acres were cleared. Here they kept about twenty head of cattle, and, in the winter mornings, he would get up, put a string of sleigh-bells on his horse, get into the saddle, and ride before light, awaking the sleeping neighbors with the rattling bells, and sometimes would blow a horn to awaken the people along the way; feeding his cattle, and returning "from over the river," to breakfast at home, at six o'clock. A cheery nature, like his, made fun of the snow and storm. He had no need of a soap-stone for his feet, nor a white bear robe to protect him from the sharp frosts of 1830. This early care kept him, and after he was 12 years old, he had but little schooling, except in winter. In the division of his father's property, lot 66 fell to him, and he went on and cleared 100 acres, on the farm now occupied by Leander Taylor. The frame house, with its two rooms, on the side hill, where Thomas Brown now lives, was of more than ordinary interest to him, and a mile by the wood-paths was very short, when, regularly, of a Sunday night, he had jumped the logs by the way, and appeared at the kitchen door, and the latch was lifted by a keen-eyed maiden, of 20 years, who smiled when he came. Pretty and charming, with a face expressive of refinement, she had a power over the rolicksome ways of this youth, but the heartiness of his laugh would get beyond her bounds sometimes ; nor has his ludicrous storying been quite controlled since. The visiting was not always done by two in this kitchen, while the old people slept. Frederick, a brother of the girl, used to amuse, as well as annoy, this young couple, by sitting up, and talking about , steers, until 1 2 o'clock, when she was obliged tP politely request Henry to go, and not stay later. However, these interruptions did not break the attraction, and a wedding took place, at the residence of Rev. Dexter Witter, February 2, 1836. Miss Sarah Welton, youngest daughter of Johnson F. Welton, was the bride. Charles Warren, with two horses and a sleigh, accompanied them to Warren, and to Cleveland, on their wedding tour. Having lived together two years, [they were prepared to enjoy the pleasures of a journey, and appreciate, in company with each other, the ways of travel, and in the spring of 1838, started on a real wedding visit, accompanied by Mrs. Welton, then 70 years of age, and Esquire Merriam's oldest daughter, Mary, afterwards Mrs. Thrasher. Going by Pittsburgh, they crossed the Alleghenies to Harrisburg, and, by Easton, went on to New York, and Waterbury, Connecticut; being three weeks on the way, going 600 miles. Their conveyance was a light two-horse lumber wagon, with seats resting on suspended poles for springs. The team and wagon were sold, east, and they returned by stage, to Albany, taking the first railroad in the United States from Albany to Schenectady. The cars, built like stage coaches, ran on flat bar rails, spiked to stringers, and carried twelve persons each. From there, by canal, they came to Buffalo ; thence, by lake, to Fairport, and home, a trip of nine days.

He was greatly interested in raising fine cattle. The first Durham bull brought into Burton was bought by him and "Amy" Beard, in 1835, of Bushnell, of Hartford, Trumbull county. He weighed 2,200 pounds. FromBlish's herd, of Mentor, the Devons were added, and the choice red cattle so famous in Burton were bred. The great bull, " Zack," was bought by him and Peter Hitchcock, afterwards sold and went to Minnesota. Andrus Durand, an old friend of Ford's living in that State, went a hundred miles to see the animal. Oxen from this stock sold for $^25 and $275 a pair, and cows from $60 to $90 each.

He was elected lieutenant of the first company of independent light infantry in the fall of 1833, and continued until elected captain in 1835, at the age of 21. This company, uniformed with red coats and white pants, was very showy, and^heir drill was superior. He continued captain about six years. In 1844 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the first light infantry regiment, first brigade, and twenty-first division Ohio volunteer militia. He kept account of men subject to military duty, and reported to the adjutant-general at Columbus up to 1850. He was then made captain of a squad of light artillery, and a cannon awakened the people of the county, on public occasions, for years up to 1856. In the winter of 1857-8, being the highest officer in command, he received orders from Secretary Floyd, of treasonable memory, to deliver up the arms in the county. The cannon was shipped to New York, and went into the hands of the Confederates in their preparation for rebellion. At the outbreak of the war in 1861, being familiar with the tactics, he began drilling men in Newbury, Chardon, Middlefield and Burton, finally organizing a company known by their uniform as "Yellow jackets." This company was in three drill contests, and won the prize each time. The prize sword, presented by the people -of Chardon, to the company, was accepted from the hand of Judge Milton Canfield, and the company made it a gift to Colonel Ford, and it is now in his possession. It is a bright reminder of those war-preparing drills. In August, 1863, he was elected colonel of the 2d Ohio militia, and that fall they went into camp on Willson avenue, in Cleveland, eight days. His list of volunteers, and men from Burton, is valuable in making up the history. All through the war he was active in raising volunteers, and paid largely to save the town from draft, and in genuine patriotism, he gave of his money and time, all through those terrible years.

A worker for the public good, he, with Thomas M. Bayard, of Chagrin Falls, secured the carrying of the mail, and, a passenger hack, ran three times a week from Cleveland, via Burton and Kinsman, to the Pennsylvania line. In 1864, with the aid of Peter Hitchcock and S. C. Ford, a daily mail was established from Chardon to Burton and Garrettsville, and he, with George Boughton, put on the hack and teams from Burton, to connect with passenger trains.

In 1871 the town was half destroyed by fire, in the business part. With a spirit determined to re-build, he subscribed $3,000, being one-eighth of the stock for the entire block of 7 stores. In 1872 a partnership was formed with George Boughton, G. H. and R. N. Ford, in the banking business, which is still continued.

When the Painesville & Youngstown railroad was being built, competition along the line for depots caused anxiety, lest the road, being laid so far east of Burton, should pass by and leave the town without a depot. In the storms of that fall of 1873, he mustered men and teams; they hauled all the timber for a building, and some ties, and laid the first rails of the track in Burton. When the building was finished he paid $1,000, and cleared it from debt - leasing for 99 years the large spring of George Adams, to fill the tank for the benefit of the company. When the track was laid, his promise to President Wick was, that he would have a hack there to meet the first train, or would be there himself with a cart and four oxen. This rapid work, pushed through in sixty days, in much bad weather, told upon his health. In 1875 the Carlton grist-mill was burned, J. S. Cook being owner at the time. Joining with George Boughton, they furnished about $8,000 in money, and what is now known as the "Center mill," was built on the old site.

He has been a religious member of the Masonic fraternity for many years, and one of the first in paying to the Congregational church, all his life, which, with his wife, he joined in 1854 - liberal, however, in his theology. He was one of the founders of the Odd Fellows lodge in Burton. A man friendly to everybody, kind in thought to the poor ; a good neighbor, with his social wife, makes the John Ford homestead, which he has always occupied, a genial mansion to all visitors. It has been the home of eight orphan children, who look back to it with memories of kindness. They adopted a daughter, now Mrs. Edward Johnson, of Middlefield. They had only one child, a daughter, Annette Virena, born December 3, 1836, and died February 19, 1838.

He looks after the farm, but is growing old, and, in his own words, "Neither holds nor drives," and knows the first of that old proverb of the plough: "He that would thrive." As a public benefactor in the use of time and means for the benefit of his town, he stands pre-eminent - has always aided those who needed help, when called upon. Of him the Hon. A. G. Riddle, of Washington, D. C., a life-long friend, writes: